Cairo- "O God, as You have reformed the righteous, reform me and make me one of them." Egyptians picked up the latest posts of the martyr Egyptian soldier Mohamed Salah on his Facebook page shortly after the Israeli media broke the official silence in Cairo regarding the circumstances and identity of the perpetrator of the attack in which three Israeli soldiers were killed at a guard post near the Al-Awja crossing.
The eyes of Egyptians turned to the Ain Shams area, northeast of Cairo governorate, where Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, 22, was born, who within hours turned into a "popular icon", amid a standing ovation that defies official silence.
Salah began his conscription period in June last year in the Central Security Sector of the Egyptian police, a sector that usually enrolls in non-degree recruits, with a period of service of up to three years.
Salah – who did not complete his education and ended up with the preparatory certificate – did not succeed in the process of industrial secondary education, according to Abu Sami, an employee in one of the health units near Ain Shams to Al Jazeera Net.
Abu Sami asserts that Salah has no political activity from near or far, but he occasionally shows sympathy for the Gaza Strip whenever Israeli strikes intensify, once writing on his page, "God stands with Palestine."
At the same time, Abu Sami points out that Salah, who supports his family with his older brother Mahmoud after his father died in a car accident, is literate even though he does not have any higher educational qualifications.
Abu Sami quotes relatives in the Ain Shams area that Salah was serving his mandatory conscription period in the North Sinai sector at the international mark No. 47, and his service period remained for more than a year and a half approximately, and Abu Sami mentions, citing people close to Salah, that he loved drawing and that his friends nicknamed him "the painter", and he also loved to travel and trips.
Brainwashing
A former officer, who preferred not to be named, pointed out that "Salah, the son of Ahmed Esmat Street in the Ain Shams area, will enter history from its widest doors."
He says to Al Jazeera Net that Salah born in 2001 despite his young age provided a great service in the face of what he called attempts to brainwash the Egyptian people, saying that the billions spent in this direction "went in vain scattered."
The former officer warns in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the relatives and relatives of Salah may be subjected to long and in-depth questioning and interrogations by the security services, and quotes witnesses in the region, pointing out that the security force has already visited Salah's house and took his brother and uncle to an unknown place, and asked about Salah's political and religious orientations.
He also suggests that Israel may have already handed over the body of the martyr to Cairo, explaining that Israel's Channel 12 reported this out of concern for relations with Egypt.
A message against normalization
Ahmed Sultan (student) of the residents of the Nozha neighborhood in the vicinity of the Ain Shams area stresses the need to "celebrate the martyr hero", and says to Al Jazeera Net, "If he had ammunition to kill them more," adding, "Ibn Ain Shams, we are all proud of you, O real pride of the Arabs."
Sultan believes that "the heroic martyr was doing his duty to defend his land, his honor, his country and his homeland, and he was doing his duty against drug traffickers and was not paid by anyone," calling on the state to honor him and quickly bring his body for burial.
Alaa Gemayel, a member of the Egyptian Socialist Movement, nicknames Egyptian soldier Mohamed Salah as "the new Suleiman Khater," a reference to the soldier who carried out a similar border operation in 1985 and killed five Israeli soldiers.
Jamil believes in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that the incident sends an important message against the so-called printers with the enemy, saying that the normalization of relations with Israel failed miserably at the popular level, and considers that "all attempts to absent awareness and change concepts" did not achieve any result and may have backfired.
And preempted Egyptians at the popular level official position steps, and did not wait for official statements, which used to be delayed some time and come out in the form of disjointed novels, as says professor of social psychology at Cairo University Ali Gohar for Al Jazeera Net, and indicates that the street turned the martyr Mohamed Salah to "popular icon sweeping."
Gohar believes that the official position must deal appropriately with the event and respect the mentality of Egyptians, while acknowledging the difficulty of forcing them to normalize relations with Israel and change their feelings.
Gohar also advises the official position to take advantage of public disapproval of Israel and its crimes to improve its internal image and gain some popularity.
Flaming borders
While Egypt's border with Israel is described as inflamed and amid expectations that it will become more inflamed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Egypt to conduct a "joint and thorough" investigation into the incident, in response to an official version announced by Cairo that was described as weak and disjointed by the Egyptian military spokesman, who said that an Egyptian security officer exchanged fire while chasing drug smugglers, which led to the death of 3 Israeli members.
While Egypt has remained silent at the official level and its narrative is shrouded in a degree of ambiguity and confusion - according to observers - Israel confirmed that it will "thoroughly investigate" the merits of the incident, which it described as rare and dangerous.
In this context, says political activist Kamal Yahya for Al Jazeera Net that the Israeli government moved on the impact of a state of internal anger, pointing out that the Israeli newspapers pressed strongly and began to cross the security and military lines red around the incident.
Yahya predicted that Israeli investigations will continue for a long time, to find out how the Egyptian security element was able to penetrate the border in light of the presence of a barrier that extends along its length and several meters high, and indicates that Israel seeks to exploit the incident to expand and extend its security control over the border with Egypt.
For his part, spoke expert in the Center for Oriental Studies Wajdi Abdel Hafez for unprecedented tension on the border with Egypt, saying to Al Jazeera Net "this incident will have a beyond."
Abdel Hafez described Salah's attack on Israeli soldiers as a painful and confusing blow to the IDF, and noted that the border was usually quiet but has seen repeated attempts to smuggle drugs, leading to live-fire clashes in recent years between smugglers and Israeli soldiers stationed along the area.